Hi Everyone,PART ONE-DOXY SIDE EFFECTS?
Okay so now I've been on Adoxa (Doxy) 400 mg/day for about a week and I'm having a hard time telling what's what. (I was on 200 mg/day for 9 days prior to upping my dose)
Since I bumped the doxy dose up I'm feeling pretty tired alot especially right after I take it. I also find that I'm a little confused and foggy. And today I got chills for a while after taking it.
Oh yeah, and instead of getting stomach distress I'm actually hungry all the time! And my EM rash, muscle aches, fever, neck ache, etc that I had before the abx. are pretty much gone.
So, I'm trying to figure out if these are side effects of the Doxy. Or are they from the Lyme? Or are they herxing? Or are they from being freaked out about the whole thing and basically anxiety-produced?
PART 2:WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Here's my other question-I'm being confused about what to do. I'm in Colorado and was diagnosed with Lyme by a dermatologist at the end of July (about 4-5 weeks after being infected) based on the fact that I had EM and an assortment of other symptoms (fever, fatigue, mild muscle pain, neck ache). So all the wonderful folks here have encouraged me to get myself to a LLMD and provided me with reccommendations.
I've contacted three ILADS Docs so far with these results:
Two require me to see them and take a bunch of lab tests-one charges $450 for the first visit and the other charges $775 for the first visit. Neither office could tell me what lab tests they ask for or how much they might cost. First available appts are in late Sept/early Oct.
The third one was very nice and called me back immediately. He listened briefly to my story and said that I was doing the right thing and that he reccommended waiting to see how I feel after 4 weeks on the Doxy at 400 mg. If I'm feeling good he said to take take another 2 weeks of meds just to be sure but that I would probably be okay. If I wasn't feeling good he thought I should come see him. I asked him about co-infections and he said he usually doesn't deal with those until he's addressed the Lyme especially since I had the EM rash.
So my inclination is to do what the Doc I actually spoke to said to do. My reasons are:
1. I think I'm following a pretty agressive abx regimen. I'm also taking supplements and overall I don't think I'm doing too badly.
2. I'm reluctant to have to take a bunch of lab tests that are often inconclusive.
3. I'm reluctant to fly to NY during this whole election time-I know that that sounds paranoid but what can I say.
4. The cost of all this is a problem for us-our insurance is not likely to cover any of this and my husband is out of work (I have a very low paying job). Of course I'd pay whatever it takes to have my health but I don't really want to pay thousands of dollars for unneccessary tests and treatment.
So I'm trying to do the sensible thing. Any thoughts on what is sensible in my situation?
Thanks so much, you've all been so wonderful helping me so far. I'm truly grateful.
-Shanna